Well, it seems that LL are determined to capture more and more of the market represented by incoming new users. I’ve previously commented on the fact that they appear to be going up against private estate owners by providing prefab sims. Now, with (I’m assuming) huge swathes of Mainland cleared of the “pesky” Adult Content, it seems that Linden Lab are about to effectively bite the collective hand of the Mainland landowners there who feed them through tier, with this announcement, which will provide (quote) content already in place, including busy commercial districts and residential areas.
Given the way Linden Lab has handled land over the last couple of years – yes, the OpenSpace sim debacle is just coming up on the first anniversary of the original hike announcement – this seems a pretty sharp kick in the teeth for those actively engaged in the Mainland market as land owners, as Prokofy Neva lucidly states in response to Courtney Linden’s latest (and totally inappropriately-titled) post on the subject of land.
Whether one agrees with Prok vis-a-vis her comments on FIC-status land barons (although I personally can see this being the case only too easily) one cannot deny that the that fact LL are now moving on both private and Mainland “themed” and “pre-fab” land underlines the fact that the die has been cast as far as Second Life content is concerned and LL’s role here.
If this is the case, one cannot anticipate anything less that the out working of the recently-proposed content roadmap will further the move towards greater control of content (and potentially content creators themselves) by Linden Lab, under the guise of “controlling” the genuine issues around content ripping – in much the same way as the genuine technical issues relating to OpenSpace sim performance was used by LL as a thin excuse for the massive price / tier hikes implemented at the start of 2009. (And I’d point out that those underpinning technical issues still haven’t been fully addressed, 11+ months down the road from the original OpenSpace sim announcement.)
But why are LL making these moves into pre-fab sims, Mainland or otherwise? I don’t for a minute buy the spin that it is to improve the “new user experience” – people have managed perfectly well within Second Life for the last six years without any need for intervention on the part of Linden Land when it has come to the provisioning of land, homes and the like. And as Prok rightly points out – the issue is not one that couldn’t be solved through vetted advertising at infohubs and greeting centres and better-up front information on the options and alternatives people can find as they explore SL.
Can the need to maintain a cashflow be so great that LL are now feeling compelled to enter their own market in direct competition with the people they ostensibly support and enable? Again, that doesn’t read right.
Taken together with the Adult Content moves though, one cannot help but wonder if elements within LL are trying to “sanitise” SL – at least in part. If this is the case, one has to ask why….is it purely to make SL more attractive to “big business”? Last year, Philip Rosedale, speaking at Metanomics made a passing comment that he’d like to see SL and the teen grid (which some regard as an epic fail in and of itself – although whether this is the case or not, I can’t say; I’ve never been there as I’m entirely the wrong age!) at “some point in the future”. Well, the “future” gets closer each day….
Or is it simply because LL are once again moving towards that other chestnut that gets raised from time to time: they’re seeking to IPO Second Life and focus their efforts in technology licencing in terms of the grid technology….?
Speculation is rarely accurate given the traditional lack of information / feedback / commentary from those within Linden Lab itself – but if I were to be pushed into indicating which of the above scenarios I’d consider to be the case – I’d be edging towards the desire to “sanitise” Second Life in order to make it more attractive to Big Business.
For one thing the other two don’t entirely stand up to close inspection. But, more prevelently, it’s pretty clear that with all the recent blog and other efforts (Amand Linden’s sadly laughable Open Letter to Your Boss, her myraid of other posts relating to SL as a platform of “business” and the oft-promoted “behind the firewall” “solution”), that LL are very much pinning their hopes on “cracking” the commercial market. As such, a more “sanitised” (or “uniform”) approach to mainland development seems to fit the picture. Sadly.
Inara Pey: Living in a Modemworld 